Israeli High Court rules Netanyahu’s move to fire Shin Bet chief ‘unlawful’: Report
Israel’s top court has ruled that the government acted “improperly” and “unlawfully” in its attempt to dismiss Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar earlier this year, according to Israeli media.
The Times of Israel reports that the court found Netanyahu’s move to remove Bar, which sparked widespread controversy and fuelled antigovernment protests, had no “factual basis” and denied Bar the right to an official hearing.
However, as Bar has already announced plans to step down on June 15, the court said it would not issue a binding order.
Former Israeli PM slams says country committing ‘war crimes’
Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has sharply criticised the ongoing war in Gaza, calling it a politically driven conflict that is inflicting heavy civilian casualties and costing the lives of Israeli soldiers.
“A political war that has no purpose will not return a single hostage and will also involve the loss of the lives of brave soldiers,” he said in comments carried by Israel’s public broadcaster, Kan.
He also said Israeli forces are committing “war crimes”, not only in Gaza, but in the occupied West Bank, where near-daily raids have continued since October 2023.
“Every day in Judea and Samaria, war crimes are being committed by Israelis”, he said, using Israel’s preferred term for the occupied West Bank. “The police and [the military] do not prevent them”, he said.
Netanyahu says Israel will control all of Gaza when offensive ends
A short time ago, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered his first press conference of the year, during which he said only 20 of the remaining 58 hostages held by Hamas in Gaza are believed to be alive.
The Israeli prime minister said: “If there is an option for a temporary ceasefire to free hostages, we’ll be ready.”
Here’s more from Netanyahu’s televised news conference – his first since December:
- He says all of Gaza will be under Israeli control by the end of its assault on the territory.
- “We must avoid a humanitarian crisis in order to preserve our freedom of operational action,” Netanyahu tells reporters.
- He says 20 Israeli captives held in Gaza “are certainly alive”.
- Netanyahu also pledges that his government will appoint the next head of Israel’s domestic intelligence service, the Shin Bet, despite Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara barring him from doing so.
Netanyahu vowed that the entire Gaza Strip would be under Israeli security control by the end of the war, and he insisted that his plans for private US companies to deliver aid would prevent a humanitarian crisis there, despite aid agencies and many governments saying such a crisis already exists.
Lebanon death roll rises to three from Israeli attacks
We reported earlier that an Israeli air strike in the southern Lebanese town of Yater killed one person.
While the Israeli army claimed it was a Hezbollah member, Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency (NNA) said the slain man was a local resident operating a bulldozer to clear rubble from his home that had sustained damage in an attack during the war.
NNA is now reporting that another two people have been killed in separate strikes – one on the southern Lebanese town of Aitaroun, and another in an attack on Ain Baal, a village in Tyre.
Several others have been wounded, NNA said, without providing more details.
